Page 29 of Game On

I glare at the back of their heads. I don’t know what they’re up to, but I don’t want my dad to get dragged into anything going on with the Ballers. Getting humiliated in front of him is not on the top of my to-do list.

“Hey,” a voice says.

I’m so caught up in staring those two down that I don’t even look up. It isn’t until Matt looks around and back a little that I realize whoever’s there is right next to me. I turn slowly, then stare straight into the eyes of Chase Fisher. My heart beats once almost painfully in my chest. “Um, hey.”

He’s dressed in a pair of nice jeans and a Nike lacrosse shirt. His gaze is calculating, staring at me with a frown.

I look toward the field at the marching band’s performance, but there’s no way Chase is going to let me get away with that. “You didn’t text me back,” he says.

I close my eyes, reliving the humiliation of last night again. Why the hell is he pursuing this? He freaking saw me with a dick drawn on my face, plus, he barely knows me. “I’m fine,” I tell him, finally looking up again. I can’t meet his eyes for long, though, so I look away just as quickly. I hate that he’s being so nice. In a way, I know I’m fucked up. Chase is being nice to me. He wants to make sure I’m okay, and yet, I’m jealous of the fact that Ryan has a girl draped over him right now. I’m seriously messed in the head.

“Tessa…”

Someone behind him says, “Would you mind sitting down, young man?”

“Sorry,” Chase says, then he moves to sit with me. My stomach clenches. I stay right where I am even though it’s obvious Chase is trying to sit next to me. I peek at the Ballers, but they haven’t noticed us yet. Even Shawn looks around with an unsure expression. Chase has to sit at the very edge of the bleacher, his feet out in the aisle. He leans over his legs like this isn’t super awkward. “I wasn’t being a stalker, I promise. Your friend Dawn gave me your number.”

“I know,” I tell him. My heart is in my throat. I keep peeking at the Ballers and wondering if I should just tell Chase to sit somewhere else. Technically, we’re not in the basketball section anymore, so it’s not like he can’t sit here. The Ballers will be pissed though. They want to control me, and this is one way they can do it. They also don’t want me to win at anything, and the fact that this cute guy who saw me embarrassed last night still wants to talk to me won’t sit well with them.

“I’m really sorry about what happened. It’s fucked up.” He sneers down at the guys in front of me. “They were assholes when I went to school here, too.”

My hands come together, and I squeeze until my fingers turn white. “Can we not talk about that?”

He takes a quick peek at me. “Which one of them did it? You can’t just stay quiet, Tessa.” He reaches his hand up, his fingertips grazing my cheek.

I pull away. “It doesn’t matter,” I say, a hint of pleading in my voice. I really don’t want to draw any attention to us. Or him. Or just plain me. I’ve had enough attention. At least the mean kind of attention I’ve come to expect from the Ballers. I miss the attention Ryan once gave me. I clench my jaw, forcing myself not to think about it.

“It does,” he says, his voice dark. He bumps my shoulder. “But I’ll stop if you want me too.” When I don’t answer, he sighs. “I just wanted to tell you how much fun I had at the dance.”

I can’t say the same. I enjoyed talking to him, but the whole thing was marred for me because of what happened.

“And…I guess, I wanted to see if you want to do it again some time. Just you and me. No chances of getting embarrassed or bullied or—”

“Hey,” a voice snaps.

I swallow. I’d just been pulled into looking at Chase’s eyes with his words. My skin tingles as I wait for the follow-up. Chase stiffens beside me as he looks up.

“You can’t sit here,” Ryan says. “Basketball area.” He gives a cocky grin that says everything he wants to say. Meaning, get the fuck out, you’re not good enough.

Chase doesn’t take it though. He seems so mature next to the ridiculous nature of what Ryan is saying. Or, is he incredibly dumb? “It’s cool,” Chase says, shrugging. Then, he looks to me. “Anyway, I want to know if you’ll go on a date with me?”

The marching band’s song ended in that moment. Everyone in a five-foot radius hears Chase ask me out. I look up. My chest expands and that feeling I felt yesterday when Chase was even talking to me starts to seep back in. It feels good to be wanted. I’m not going to lie. And Chase is handsome. And nice, clearly.

Alec stands. My head snaps around to look at him. His hands are balled to fists, and the girl who was leaning on him is now rubbing her ear. “He said you can’t sit there.”

Chase’s jaw ticks. “I’m having a conversation with Tessa.” When he turns back toward me this time, his eyes are ablaze. I see a little bit of the lacrosse fighter coming out of him then. If you’re an athlete, you have to be a little bit confrontational. Games are about winning. If you don’t care about winning, you wouldn’t play. “I really want to take you out.”

I glance up at Alec who looks he’s getting madder by the second. “Maybe you should—”

Chase cocks his head at me. “Seriously? Why are you letting them do this?”

I close my eyes. In my head, I don’t see the Ballers acting like complete assholes or even Chase sitting right next to me. No, I see me years ahead, jumping in the air for a layup in front of a crowd of people. This is the only way, and I just don’t know if Chase will understand that.

“Listen, asshole,” Ryan says, standing next to Alec now. The rest of the Ballers stand, too, following their point guard. Hayes stands last, but when he turns, he might have the most dramatic affect. He’s so tall, so unreadable. “This is for basketball players only.”

Ryan points toward the tape, but Chase isn’t dumb. He realizes I’m not even inside the tape on the stands. He looks at me, his expression apologetic. But then he stands, and his hands are balled into fists. “Really? Because from what I can see, you don’t even want her on the team. You haven’t even given her a chance.”

Lake snorts. “We don’t want her on the team.” He looks around like he thought that was all loud and clear. Trust me, it is. “She’s the one who signed up, so she has to take everything we give her.”

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